Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-10-25
AN OPIUM JOINT IN CHINA.
The Horrible Den that is Attractive to the
Natives In Shanghai.

Boston Herald.

A writer in recent number Of the
North China Herald describes the Nam
gin-tsin, the greatest opium den in China.
It is known throughout the length and
breadth Of the Empire to the Chinese, and
it helps to make Shanghai regarded as q
city affording the same opportunities for
pleasure and dissipation that Paris does
to the typical Frenchman. 1t is situated
in the French concession in Shanghai,
within stones throw of the wall of
the native city, within which no
opium shops are supposed to exist. The
character of the place should not be
guessed from its external appearance, al
| though the air of the people passing in
and out might suggest 1t. The throngs
visiting It represent all stations of life,
from the coolie to the wealthy merchant
or the small mandarin. It is with diff
Guilty that one gets inside through the
crowds of people hanging around the
door. Those who have not the requisite
number of copper cash to procure the
baneful pipe watch with horrible visit
fulness each of the more atfiuent pass
in with nervous, hurried step, or
totter out wearing that peculiar dazed
expression which comes after the smokers
craving has been satisfied and his tran
sient pleasure has passed sway. One re-
quires strong stomach to stand the sick
ening fumes which the air inside is thick
ened. The clouds of smoke, the dim
light from the numerous colOred lamps,
the numbers of reclining forms with dis
torted faces bent over the small flames st
which the pipes are lighted, cause the
| novice sickening sensation. But as
soon as the eye becomes accustomed to
the scene, it is noticed that the place is
got up on an expensive scale. In the
center of the lower room hangs
one of the finest OF Chinese
lamps, the ceiling is OF richly
carved wood, while the :painted walls are
th1ckly inlaid with a peculiar marked
marble, which gives the ides of unfinished
LANDSCAPE sketches. Numerous; doors on
all sides lead to the smokers apartments.
In the outer portion of the bull ling stands
a counter covered with little boxes of the
drug ready for the smoking, which s
dozen assistants are kept busy handing
out to the servants who wait upon the
habitues Of the place. The average daily
receipts are said to be about $1,000. The
smoking apartments are divided into four
classes. In the cheapest are coolies: who
pay about fourpence for their smoke. In
the dearest the smoke costs about seven
pence. The drug supplied in each class
is much the same both in quality
and quantity; it is the difference in the
pipes that regulates the price. The best
kinds are made of ivory, the stem being
often inlaid with stones, and rendered
more costly by reason Of elaborate cary
ing; the cheapest kinds are made simply
Of hard wood. The rooms also are fur
nished according to class. In the most
expensive the lounge upon which the
smoker reclines Is Of fine velvet, with
pillows OF the same material; the frames
of each couch are inlaid with mother-of-
pearl and Jade, and the whole air Of these
rooms is one OF sensuous luxury. There
is also number of private rooms. In
the poorer section will be seen many
Wearers of the battered yellow and gray
robes Of Buddhist and TaVist priests
Women form fair proportion o!
the smokers. The common be.
lief is that the opium sleep is attended by
8 mild, pleasureable delirium, with brief
glances Of elysium; but this is the excep-
ton, not the rule. People smoke to sat.
isfy the craving begotten OF previous in
diligence. There is accommodation fol-
| lou SulOkCIs us lille, dnu buSIS 10 SCI
dom vacancy very long. The stream o!
smokers goes on from early morning til
midnight, when the place closes; the
clouds of smoke 60 up necessarily all day
long. Europeans do not often visit the
place, but the seamen of American men.
of-war visiting Shanghai sometimes seek
soIace in the drug.
John Buckley of Merideb, Conn caught